Starter for internal combustion engines



March 7, 1939. w c R|LEY 2,150,026

STARTER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed-March 31, 1938 V a .5 j 1 6| 1 37 I5 42 I r:

A9 INVENTOR: 0 fl/pyneczxv/Q/ ATTOR Y Patented Mar. 7, 1939 I 7 2,150,026

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STARTER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Wayne Criley, KansasCity, Mo. Application March 31, 1938, Serial No. 199,313 s Claims.- (01123-179) My invention relates to a starter for internal erated in suitable threads formedin the cylinder combustion engines and, more particularlyto a head 4 by operating handle 5. A pipe Scommunlight, hydro-pneumatic starter adapted for use icates with the starter cylinder Tin which is poin starting airplane motors, outboard motors, sitioned a starter piston 8 adapted to reciprolight Diesel engines and other internal combustion cate a'rack 9. The rack 9 is adapted to engage a' 5 engines, I I f pinion Hi, keyedto a sleeve H by key l2. The

Small airplanes cannot be equipped with the sleeve I l i's mounted upon a shaft I3 and'is adapt customary electric motor driven starters, 'opered tomove axially thereof. The other end of the ated from a storagebattery as the weight of the sleeve ll carries complementary member H of a 10 assembly is too great, thesto'rage' battery alone c h other mp n a y'm m r 1-5 of lo being far in excess of the permissible weight. It he clutch is Secured by any suitable means tothe will be readily appreciated that, in light airplanes, fly ee "5 01 ot er Suitable part of the motor weight is an important factor, so mu h o th t to be started. The flywheel I6 is secured to the light airplanes are universally started by hand, crank Shaft H of the motor to be started. The

1.) usually by rotating a propeller- T is s adangerrack "9 is-provided with a groove IS in its under ous procedure and frequently results in a loss of d h gro v riding p a u Wheel '9 limb. Outboard motors, likewise have not been adapted to rotate upona shaft on suitableball provided with mechanical starters and resort bearings ll. A spr ng 22 tends to urge the D must be had to hand starters. Women have diffi- 8 to h left, as v w n F ure 3. A detent 20 culty in starting outboard motors and especially 23 is p e to Seat in a notch f ed i the go those of t e owain type rack and prevent the rack from movingto the One object of my invention is to provide 9, right, as'viewed in Figure 3. The detent 23 is compact, light weight starter for internalcomme n a rotatable a t 5 w h pr j ts bustion engines, f through the housing 28. The starter'cylinder 1 25 Another object of my invention is to provide a cQmmuhicates' With the booster y er 1 1 25 starting arrangement for internal combustion enu h a pipe 28. I A piston 29 is lod ed in'the gines which may, due to its small size and light t r nd p p a d 2 the spa weight, be appliedlto airplane engines. t t right of Piston Within the mp e so Other and further objects of my'invention will cylinder the p t e left o p ston 8 of 30 appear from t fonowiog descripti0n starter cylinder 1, and the space to the left of 3D In the accompanying drawing hi h fo -mg t piston 29 in the booster cylinder 21 are comof the instant specification and is to be read in pietely filled w n s le liquid such 'asa conjunction therewith and in which like reference mixture of glyoerine and w r r ly erine and numerals are used to indicate like parts in the varalcohol if desired, ious views; F s The'booster cylinder 21 is formed with an end Figure 1 is a top plan view of'my starting as- Provided with an Opening a opted to be sembiy; 4 closed by a check valve 32 "and a cap 33. Com- Figure 2 is an elevation of my starting assembly municating with P 5 is a branch P p 34 d g with parts broken away. to an automatic tripping cylinder 35 in which is Figure 3 is a section, taken on a line 3-3 of housed a piston 35 having a piston rod 31. A 0

Figure 1 I I spring 38 normally urges thepiston 36 to the left Figure 4 is a. sectional view taken on a line 4-4 as Viewed in Figure The p ce o t e left of of Figure 2. piston 36 and pipe 34 is completely filled with liq- Figure 51 an enlarged, fragmentafyv1'ew t uid. The outer end of the groove HLformed in parts in section, of the automatic tripping cylinrack 9 is providedwith a reentrant o t on 39 5 d I bridged by a flat spring 40.

In ner my invention contemplates e The outer portion of shaft 25 which is rotatrangement whereby comparatively high pneumatably mounted in housing 25 is P d with an ic pressures may be built up with comparatively operating level A Sp e ds to rotate the small mechanical motion, and the provision of shaft 25 ina clockwise direction, as viewed in 50 means for rotating the crank shaft of the engine Figures 2 and 3, thus holding the detent 23 in the to be started. notch 24. A shaft 43 is rotatably' mounted in the More particularly, referring now to the drawupper end of the housing 26 and extends upwardly ing, a compressor cylinder I isprovided with a out of the housing. The lower end of the shaft piston 2 adapted to be moved by a screw 3, 0p 43 carries an arm 44 adapted to engage the pinion 55 ll. A lever '48 is keyed to the shaft 48. as can readily be seen by reference to Figure l. Rotation of the shaft 43 clockwise causes the arm 44 to move the pinion it, together with sleeve I I and clutch member I4 to the left, as viewed in Figure 4, thus engaging the clutch members. The upper end 46 of starting operating lever 4| is positioned adjacent thelever 4! so that the clockwise rotation of the lever. 48' will engage the upper end 40 of the arm 4i, rotating the shaft 29 in a clockwise direction and moving the detent 23 out of the notch 24. One endof the lever 45 is connected to piston rod 31. The other end oflever 45 is con-v nected to a cable 41.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, if the device is to be small in sire, the area a of the starting piston I which actuates the start- 7 ing rack 9 would have to be small. If the start- 3 ing rack. with the clutch members engaged and I the pinion III in mesh with the teeth of the rack I, is to move, it must rotate the :crank shaft and move the associated motor'pistons of'the motor tov be started. It must move one or-more pistons of the motor through compression and, in an airplane motor, for example. highcompression ratios are frequently used. It will be further obvious that, since we haveonly'a-small starting piston area to deal with, that high pressures must .be

I employed so that thepmduct of the areaof the it times the mechanical advantage of' the rack starting piston times the pressure acting upon and pinion willbe greater than the area of a piston of the motorto. be started times the pressure existingwithin the motor cylinderfat the piston must be greatif a used. If the compressor pistonisto be recipro cated,using only-air, acheck .valve will have to be positioned at the outlet of the compressor om 160, pounds per point of compression plus the response to movement of the associated caused by friction. g h

It will be further obvious that, if this high pressure is to be achieved solely by the movement ofv compressor piston I acting upon air at atmospheric pressure, that the stroke of the compressor single stroke'is to be cylinder and a number oi' strokes of the com-, pressor piston will .havetobe made. The first premise, namelythe use of one long stroke, would involve a compressor cylinder of such length that the advantages. aimed at, namely lightnessand weight wouid'be sacrifled to say nothing of the space required. Then, too, a long stroke would be I overcome the disadvantages abovepointed out by, with theparts in the position shown in Figure 2, flllingthe boostercylinder 21 to the right of piston 2! with compressed air. The cap It is removed and a sourceof compressed air connectedto the end 8.. V Compressed air fills the cylinder 21, flowing thereinto through passageway ll. being prevented from valve 82. During this operation, is at the extreme left of the cylinder 21, seated upon a seat 48 formed piston 14 thusacts as avalve. Air or other suit,- able oompressiblefluid under pressure which may square inch to 250 pounds per square inch or higher is thusoharged tothe booster-cy i der a when thepiston I ismoved from the position time consuming and would render the device commercially'impractical. The time consuming operation of a long stroke would also be present escaping, by check the piston. 2

on cylinder head-4Q. The

- counterclockwise and shown in Flgurefl to the position shown in Figure 3, it will displace the fluid to the right of piston 2 within cylinder I. ton t of the starter cylinder cannot move, since the detent '23 holds the rack 9 which is secured to the piston I from moving. The liquid therefore displaces the piston is of the booster cylinder 21, further compressing the already compressed air. At the same, time, the liquid being displaced will act-upon piston 38' resisted by spring II. The area of piston 36 and spring 38 is such that it will not move until the desired startins pressure is approached. The compressing of the'already compressed air within the booster cylinder 21 creates an extremely high pressure as will be readily apparent In this manner, the desired high starting pressure which may vary, depending upon the motor to be started,from 500 pounds per square inch to 1200 pounds per square inch or higher, is readily achieved with a'single stroke of the compressor piston. 'Thepressurc exerted by the compressed gas behind piston '29 is exerted by hydrostatic pressure upon starting piston I, when the de-" ultimately reached, piston sired high pressure is 36 will have moved to the right against the action of spring 38 under the hydrostatic pressure generated. Ihem'ovement of piston rod 31 to the right rotates the lever 45 and associated shaft 4'3 in a clockwise direction.. Rotation of shaft]; moves the pinion it into engagingQposition. If the teeth of the pinion are not lined up with the teeth'of the rack, the rock will be depressedby flexing of spring 40, thus insuring engagement oi the teeth of the pinion with the teethof the rack. At the same time, the clutch members l4 and i5 will be engaged, At the same'time one end of the lever end of the motion will rotate the shaft 2|, moving the detent 23 out of the notch. When the detent is free of the notch the rack under the influence of the pressure stored in booster cylinder 21, starting the engine. When the pressure is released, the spring 38 will the piston 31' to thelleit, rotating the lever 45 rack. The operating to retract the piston to move the rack and piston l to the left. When the notch 24 isjopposite the. detent .23, the spring 42 will rotate the shaft .25 to bring the detent into the notch and the parts will'be' in the position shown in Figure 2, when it is again desiredf rotated and the operationrepeated.

If desiredrthe automatic tripping piston'may be removed or the pistonrod l'iilane and weighs less-than 5 pounds. L It mu be understood that certain features and sub-combinations are of utility andmay be employed without reference to other features and sub-combinations. is within-the scope obvious that various This is contemplatedby and of my claims. It is further 45 will have engaged thefupper operating lever 4| and further a1 disconnected.

changes may be made in de- I The fluid acting against piswill movelto the right V V permitting the clutch to disengage and the pinion Ill to disengage the handle I is then". operated 2 permitting the piston 22 tails within the scope of my claims without departing from the spirit of my invention. It is, therefore, to beunderstood that my invention is not to be limited to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A starter for internal combustion engines, including in combination a starter cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, means responsive to the movement of said piston for cranking an internal combustion engine, a detent for selectively preventing movement of said piston, a booster cylinder, a piston in said booster cylinder, means providing communication between said booster cylinder and said starter cylinder, a pump cylinder, a piston in said pump cylinder, means providing communication between said pump cylinder and said starter cylinder, liquid disposed in said pump cylinder, said starter cylinder and said intercommunicating means, said booster cylinder being filled with a gas under superatmospheric pressure, the construction being such that, with said detent in starter piston immobilizing position, movement of said pump piston in pumping direction will pump said liquid into said booster cylinder, displacing the booster cylinder piston to further compress the gas disposed therein, whereby when said detent is moved to free said starter piston, the pressure thus built up is free to move the starter piston to crank the internal combustion engine to be started.

2. In a starter for internal combustion engines having a starter cylinder, a piston within said starter cylinder adapted to be reciprocated therein, means actuated by the reciprocation of the starter piston for cranking an internal combustion engine, a booster cylinder having a booster piston disposed therein, means providing communication between said starter cylinder and said booster cylinder, a liquid pump having a discharge port, means providing communication between said pump discharge port and said starter cylinder, the combination comprising gas under pressure disposed within said booster cylinder on one side of said booster piston, said communicating means providing communication between the other side of said booster piston and said starter cylinder, said communicating means, said starter cylinder on one side of the'starter piston and the means providing communication between the liquid pump and the starter cylinder being liquidful, and means for temporarily immobilizing the starter piston, the construction being such that, when said liquid pump is operated, liquid will be pumped into the booster cylinder to move said booster piston to further compress the compressed gas disposed therein, whereby, when a desired pressure is reached, the starter piston immobilizing means may be operated to release the starter piston to crank the internal combustion engine to be started.

3. A starter as in claim 2, wherein said means actuated by reciprocation of the starter piston for cranking the internal combustion engine comprises a rack, a pinion adapted to be rotated by said rack, and means actuated by the rotation of said pinion for rotating the crank shaft of an internal combustion engine.

4. A starter as in claim 2, wherein said means actuated by reciprocation of the starter piston for cranking the internal combustion engine comprises a rack, a pinion adapted to be rotated by said rack, a sleeve, said pinion being carried by said sleeve normally out of engagement with said rack, a clutch member carried by said sleeve, a complementary clutch member carried by the crank shaft of the engine to be started, the construction being such that, when said pinion is moved into rack engaging position, said clutch members will engage so that rotation of said pinion by said rack will crank the internal combustion engine to be started.

5. A starter as in claim 1 in which said means responsive to the movement of said starter piston for cranking the internal combustion engine comprises a rack, a pinion normally out 01 engagement with said rack, a sleeve, said pinion being carried by said sleeve, a clutch member carried by said sleeve, a complementary clutch member carried 'by the crank shaft of the engine to be started, and fluid pressure means for moving said pinion into rack engaging position and for engaging said complementary clutch members.

6. A starter as in claim 1, including in combination fluid pressure means for moving said detent to starter piston releasing position.

WAYNE C. CRILEY. 

